Manuel Velarde


Manuel Velarde was an Argentine Catholic priest, who served as Head of the Parish of Montserrat. He began his ecclesiastical career during the government of Juan Manuel de Rosas.

Biography

Manuel Lorenzo Estanislao Velarde was born on August 10, 1822 in Buenos Aires, son of Camilo de la Vega Velarde de la Cámara and María de Belén Inés Fabre Rivero, belonging to a distinguished family. He had been baptized on September 6 of the same year by the priest Domingo Estanislao Belgrano, Chantre of Buenos Aires Cathedral. His maternal grandfather, Don Agustín Fabre, was a Spanish doctor, who served in the Protomedicato del Río de la Plata.
Velarde was ordained a priest for the year 1844, serving in the parish of :es:Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Socorro |Nuestra Señora del Socorro. He was involved in the escape :es:Ladislao Gutiérrez|Uladislao Gutiérrez, presbyter of Socorro, who had had an unlawful relationship with Camila O'Gorman. At the request of the O'Gorman family, Velarde delayed informing the authorities of the departure of the city of Gutiérrez.
In 1854, Velarde was chosen to occupy the parish of San José de Flores. Being the priest of Flores, he had taught practices related to ecclesiastical protocols to :es:Mariano Antonio Espinosa|Mariano Antonio Espinosa. Later he was parish priest of the Parish of Montserrat, being in charge of the inauguration of the new temple on September, 10, 1865. During the yellow fever epidemic, Velarde integrated the Commission of Hygiene of the :es:Iglesia de San Miguel |Parish of San Miguel.
In 1865, Manuel Velarde was designated honorary Canon of the Cathedral of Buenos Aires, by decree of the then president Bartolomé Mitre. He served as priest of the Parish of San Miguel from August 25, 1870, until his death on May 28, 1893.